“Ten is still far away”: Top Journalist on Naomi Osaka’s possible major count
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Naomi Osaka
In Melbourne last week, Naomi Osaka left little doubt about her current place in women’s tennis with another dominant performance. Defeating Jennifer Brady in the final, Osaka notched her fourth major title, tying her with Kim Clijsters and trailing just Serena and Venus Williams among active players – and is now on a 21-match win streak.
While her straight-set victory over Serena Williams in the semifinals garnered most of the attention during her run in Melbourne, it was perhaps her match against two-time Slam champion Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round that was the most impressive.
Pushed to the brink in the third set and down 5-3, Osaka staved off two match points and never looked back. She won the next three games and advanced, ultimately becoming the eighth woman in the Open era to win the Australian Open after saving a match point.
With her latest triumph, Osaka is unquestionably the new face of the sport. And a debate has started on how many slams will Osaka finish with.
Ben Rothenberg thinks that it is too early to predict
On Naomi Osaka’s grand slam count prediction, journalists Ben Rothenberg and Simon Cambers discuss whether Osaka has the game and the mentality to go on to add to her tally in the coming years.
“There’s no reason why she can’t perform on clay, if she finds her feet (on the surface),” Cambers says.
“And if she does that, you’re talking about the potential to get toward 10 grand slams and onwards. I think it’s self-perpetuating; if she suddenly goes on a tear, other players will be totally intimidated and she’ll start to be even more dominant.”
But Rothenberg had different views. He feels it’s too early to start getting carried away by talking about 10 Grand Slam titles.
“Ten is still far away,” he says. “There are a lot of great tennis players in history who didn’t come close to 10.”
“Venus Williams was a great player, she got to seven; Justine Henin was a great player, she got to seven; Andre Agassi got to eight and he was around for a long time. If she only wins four, it’s still a really great career. I just want people to calm down and not go to crazy with 10 or more, because it’s unfair to her.”, he added.
Also read: Michael Stich says that Roger Federer should retire after a win at Wimbledon
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)